How accurate are eye witness testimonies?

eye witness testimonies are used for evidence with events such as car accidents.

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reliability

reliability; in the context of eyewitness testimonu the extent to which it can be regarded as accurate.

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Leading question

leading question; a question that hints a particular type of answer is required.

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Cognitive interview

cognitive interview; a methos of questioning witnesses that involves the context of an event.

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studies involved

LOFTUS AND PALMER (1974)

BRUCE AND YOUNG (1998)

GEISELAN ET AL (1985)

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LOFTUS AND PALMER (1974)

AIM- to see if leading leading questions affect the accuracy of the recall.

METHOD- participants were shown videos off car accidents. Some were asked 'how fast was the car going when it HIT the other car?' and some were asked 'how fast was the car going when it SMASHED the other car?'

RESULTS- those who heard the word 'smashed' gave a higher estimated speed than those who heard 'hit'

CONCLUSION- leading questions will affect the accuracy of recall.The words 'smashed' led participants to believe the car was going faster.

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BRUCE AND YOUNG (1998)

AIM- to see if familiarity affects the accuarcy of identifying faces.

METHOD- psychology lectures were caught on security camera at the entrance of a building. Participants were asked to indentify the faces seen on the security camera tape from a series of high-quality photographs.

RESULTS- The lectures stufents name made more correct identifications than othetr students and experienced police officers.

CONCLUSION- Previous familiarity helps when identifying faces.

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GEISELMAN ET AL. (1985)

AIM- To see if reinstating the context of an event will affect the accuracy of witnesses accounts.

METHOD- Participants were shown police training film of a violent crime. Two days later they were interviewd about what they had seen. For half of the participants, the context of the events was recreated during the interview. For the other half of the participants, he contect of the events was recreated druing the interview. For the other half of the participants, standard police interview techniques were used.

RESULTS- The participants who had the context recreated recalled more accurate facts about the violent crime than the other participants.

CONCLUSION- Recreating context during interviews will increase the accuarcy of recall. This method is known as the cognitive interview.

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Comments

Sasha

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Maybe you could of added evaluation points and practical applications.

other than that pretty good.

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